Heavy medium cyclone separator



April 1968 TAKESHI HORIUCHI I 3,379,308

HEAVY.MEDIUM CYCLONE SEPARATOR Filed Oct. 7, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 TAKES H1 HORIUCHI IM/EA/fdk A Tums r5 Ap 1968 TAKESHI HORIUCHIQ 3, 8

HEAVY MEDIUM CYCLONE SEPARATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 22 Filed Oct. 7, 1964 PRES/II HoRIucHI Amzwsm United States Patent 3,379,308 HEAVY MEDIUM CYCLONE SEPARATOIR Takeshi Horiuchi, Dist: 12, Tsuruoka-shi, Torii-cho, Yamagata-ken, Japan Filed Oct. 7, 1964, Ser. No. 402,160 Claims priority, application Japan, Oct. 8, 1963,

38/52,512; Feb. 18, 1964, 39/8,565

2 Claims. (Cl. 209-1725) The present invention relates to an apparatus for separating ore from a heavier substance.

The method of separating two substances, such as stones from coal powder, by utilizing the difference in specific gravity by feeding a mixture of substance of diiferent specific gravities as, for example, a mixture of a coal powder and stones and water, to a cyclone separator is known in the art. However, the conventionally used cyclone separator has a wide upper part but is narrow in the lower part. Ores together with water are made to flow down from the upper part so as to be dressed. In practice, it is impossible to separate them perfectly in the conventional separator.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which will separate two substances of difi'en ent specific gravities in a much more complete manner than a conventional cyclone separator. In the apparatus of the present invention, an inverted conical shaped body which is larger in the lower part than in the upper part is provided with a feeding pipe for feeding a heavy medium to the lower part and is provided with a hollow conical separating tube in the upper part. When the apparatus of the present invention is used, ores which are fed with the heavy medium will be able to be separated perfectly due to the specific gravity difierence and by utilizing cetnrifugal force, and simultaneously using a heavy medium and fully utilizing the respective specific gravity separating actions.

The present invention will now be explained with ref erence to an embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional elevation view of the apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 44 of FIG. 1.

As seen in FIGURES 14, the apparatus comprises a downwardly flaring truncated conical separating chamber 1 having a cylindrical feed chamber 2a at the bottom thereof. Opening tangentially into the feed chamber 2a is a feed nozzle 3 from a feed pipe 2. Closing the bottom of the feed chamber is 'a partition 4 through which extends a tube 6 centrally of the feed chamber. The tube 6 extends upwardly to a level above the level of the feed nozzle 3 and slightly into the conical separating chamber 1. Below the feed chamber is a closed lighter material collecting chamber 7 into which the tube 6 opens, and a discharge tube 8 opens out of the chamber 4.

At the upper end of the separating chamber 1 is a tubular section having an exhaust outlet opening 11 therein and having a mounting member over the upper end thereof in which is mounted the 'hollow stem of an inverted cone 9 which is positioned inside the top of the truncated conical separating chamber 1, hollow stem being open to the atmosphere through the mounting member 10 and the sides of the cone 9 being spaced from the inside of the wall of the separating chamber to leave an annular passage to the ehxaust outlet opening 11. Around the top of the separating chamber 1 is a heavier material collecting chamber 12 into which the exhaust outlet opening opens, and a discharge tube 13 opens out of the chamber 12.

Connected to the feed pipe 2 is a vertical riser 16 which has a tank 14 for liquid at the upper end thereof. The tank 14 is at a level higher than the top of the separating chamber 1. A branch of the riser 16 extends to a hopper 15 for crushed mineral ore mixtures which are to be separated in the apparatus.

When the present apparatus is to be used, the tank 14 in a position higher than the position of the outlet 11 in the top of the separating chamber is filled with a heavy medium 17 which has a pressure head. When it flows from the tank 14 and enters the separating chamber 1 through the feed nozzle 3, the heavy medium will have a considerable flow velocity, and will flow in while maintaining a constant volume of flow, will produce a centrifugal force, and will spiral upwardly in a spiral flow 20 and will reach the top of the chamber 1 while rotating along the inside Wall of the separating chamber 1. The center part 5 of the heavy medium thus filling the separating chamber 1 will form a downward spiral flow 21 to the tube 6 in the plate 4, will flow into the chamber 7 and will flow out of the chamber 7 through the discharge tube 8. However, when the amount of this discharge is smaller than the amount of the medium fed into the separating chamber 1 and when the velocity of the above mentioned upward spiral flow 20- is high, the heavy medium 17 in this upward flow 20 will be discharged through the outlet opening 11 and out of the case through the discharge tube 13.

When the flow of the heavy medium 17 as is described above, the solids of specific gravities higher than that of the medium will be dispersed toward the outer peripheral part of spiral flow 20 and will be concentrated by the centrifugal force produced by the flow, and will be further concentrated by the action of the inside wall of the cone making the spiral flow smaller in diameter toward the upper part and will therefore have specific gravities higher than the apparent specific gravity of the heavy medium 17 being fed. However, the heavy medium in the center part of the separating chamber will be of a lower apparent specific gravity. Therefore, in the vertical direction of the separating chamber 1, there will be a distribution of apparent specific gravities which is higher to- Ward the upper part than in the lower part.

When the specific gravity distribution of the heavy medium 17 in the separating chamber 1 such as is described above is formed, it minerals or solids having diiferent specific gravities are fed from the ore hopper 15, they will fiow together with the heavy medium 17, into the separating chamber 1 through the riser 16, feed pipe 2 and feed nozzle 3 and the centrifugal force produced by the flow of the heavy medium 17 will be different depending on the specific gravity difference inherent in the mineral.

That is to say, a mineral 19 of a high specific gravity will have a high centrifugal force, will be forced into the high specific gravity liquid layer on the outer periphery 3 of the separating chamber 1 as explained above, will ride the upward flow to the outlet opening 11 and will be discharged together with the heavy medium 17 out of the collecting chamber 12.

A mineral 18 of low specific gravity will be acted on by a centrifugal force lower than that on a mineral of a high specific gravity, and will not be forced into the high specific gravity liquid layer, but rather will remain in the central part, will be drawn as floating ore into the downward spiral flow 21 in the center part of the separating chamber 1, will flow into the tube 6 and will flow out of the collecting chamber 7 through the discharge tube 8.

When the substance to be dressed is a very fine powder or is, for example, a pulverized coal or the like, a large amount of the coexisting fine powdery stone part or slime will collect on the periphery of the separating chamber 1 and will act as a self-produced heavy medium. Therefore, in such case, no heavy medium will have to be added.

The actual results of dressing ores with the present apparatus are given in the following examples.

EXAMPLE 1 A heavy medium 17 was prepared by suspending in water a mineral of a specific gravity of about 3.0 ground to a fine grain diameter, and the liquid had a specific gravity of 1.20. When this heavy medium was fed to the ore dressing apparatus described above from the tank 14, the specific gravity of the heavy medium discharged through the outlet opening 11 in the top of separating chamber 1 was 2.07 and that of the heavy medium overflowing through the discharge tube 8 was 1.17.

When a crude coai was fed from the ore hopper 15 with the heavy medium in the separating chamber 1 in such a condition, the specific gravity separation set forth below took place at a separating specific gravity of 1.36. The specific gravity distribution and granularity distribution of the crude coal were then as follows:

SPECIFIC GRAVITY DISTRIBUTION OF CRUDE COAL (CONTAINING 9.50% ASH) Specific gravity Percent by weight Up to 1.25 1.25 to 1.30 57.46 1.30 to 1.35 8.92 1.35 to 136 0.46 1.36 to 1.50 5.50 1.50 to 1.60 1.60 1.60 3.71

Total 100 GRANULARITY DISTRIBUTION OF CRUDE COAL Grain diameter in mm.: Percent by weight The specific gravity distribution of the floating ore, in this case coal, 18 as separated at a separating specific gravity of 1.36 was as follows:

SPECIFIC GRAVITY DISTRIBUTION OF FLOATING ORE (COAL) 18 (CONTAINING 6.54% ASH) Remarks As calculated with tlze ore.

Percent by weight Specific gravity Separation rate means separating spccitic gravity.

Further, the specific gravity distribution of the heavier ore, again coal, 19 as separated at a separating specific gravity of 1.36 was as follows:

SPECIFIC GRAVITY DISTRIBUTION OF HEAYIER ORE (COAL) 19 (CONTAINING 37.38% ASH) of the stray in the floating ore (coal) 18 and in the heavier ore (coal) 19 were 1.61% and 0.6%, respectively, and that the dressing efficiency was 99.07%.

EXAMPLE 2 A heavy medium 17 was prepared by suspending in water a mineral having a specific gravity of about 2.11 ground to a fine grain diameter, and the medium had a specific gravity 1.20.

When this heavy medium was fed to the above described ore dressing apparatus from the tank 14, the specific gravity of the heavy medium discharged through the outlet opening 11 in the top of the separating chamber was 1.66 and that of the heavy medium overflowing through the discharge tube 8 was 1.16.

When a crude coal was fed from the ore hopper 15, the specific gravity separation as is described below took place at a separating specific gravity of 1.30. The specific gravity distribution and granularity distribution of the crude coal were as follows:

SPECIFIC GRAVITY DISTRIBUTION OF CRUDE COAL (CONTAINING 24.28% ASH) Specific gravity: Percent by weight GRANULARITY DISTRIBUTION OF CRUDE COAL Grain diameter in mm.: Percent by weight 15 to 9 13.25 9 t0 6 37.07 6 to 4 17.44 4 to 3 15.73 3 to 2 6.60 2 to 1 5.06 1 to 0.2 4.85

Total The specific gravity distribution of the floating ore, in this case coal, 18 as separated at a separating specific gravity of 1.30, was as follows:

SPECIFIC GRAVITY DISTRIBUTION OF FLOATING ORE (COAL) 18 (CONTAINING 5.25% ASH) Remarks As calculated with the ore.

Percent by weight Specific gravity Total r 21. 23

Separation rule means separating specific gravity.

Further, the specific gravity distribution of heavier ore, in this case coal, 19 as separated at a separating specific gravity of 1.30, was as follows:

SPECIFIC GRAVITY DISTRIBUTION OF HEAVIER ORE (COAL) 19 (CONTAINING 29.33% ASH) Separation rule means separating specific gravity.

In examining the above results of separation, it is found that the amount of the stray was 1.99% in the floating ore (coal) 18 and was 1.49% in the heavier ore (coal) 19 and that the dressing efficiency was 98.02%.

In the case of Example 2, the crude coal was characterized by the fact that the amount of the floating ore (coal) 18 and the granularity of the minerals handled were smaller than in Example 1.

Further, in Example 2, the heavy medium was prepared by suspending in water the fine grains of the mineral of a specific gravity lower than 01; the heavy medium material in Example 1.

The examples therefore show even under such diiferent dressing conditions, the accuracy of the specific gravity separation was not very different and the dressing efiiciency was high.

Thus, minerals of solids can be accurately separated by their inherent specific gravity difference. However, in the course of the separation, the ratio of the amount of the floating ore to the amount of the heavier ore will be different, specifically, the heavier ore will increase and will not be able to be discharged at once through the outlet opening 11 but will accumulate in the top part of the separating chamber and will have a chance of being entrained into the downward spiral flow 21 in the center part. Therefore, the isolating tube 9 is provided to prevent the accumulating heavier ore from entering the spiral downward flow 21 and thus prevents the heavier ore from mixing into the floating ore so that, even if the specific gravity distribution of the fed ore is not uniform, the ore may be accurately separated.

It is thought that the invention and its advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it is apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawings being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for separating materials of different specific gravities, comprising a separating chamber having a truncated conical shape with the wider end downwardly, a feed pipe opening tangentially into the lower end of said separating chamber, a cylindrical tubular section extending upwardly from the upper end of the conical separating chamber and having an exhaust outlet opening therein for discharging heavier materials, an inverted cone in the upper end of said conical separating chamber with the cone spaced from the Wall of the separating chamber to leave an annular passage between the cone and the separating chamber, the upper end of the cone having a hollow tube thereon extending through the top of the cylindrical tubular section and being open to the atmosphere through the top of the chamber, a partition closing the bottom of said separating chamber and a tube extending through the center of said partition and extending upwardly into the separating chamber to a level above the level of said feed pipe for discharging lighter materials, and a heavy medium tank and a material hopper connected to said feed pipe and being positioned at a level above the level of the top of the separating chamber for feeding a mixture of heavy medium and material to the chamber.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which there is a heavier material collecting chamber around the top of the separating chamber and the cylindrical tubular section and having the top open to the atmosphere and into which the exhaust outlet opening opens, said heavier material collecting chamber having a discharge tube opening out of it, and a lighter material collecting chamber below the separating chamber into which said tube opens, said lighter material collecting chamber having a discharge tube opening out of it.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,913,112 11/1959 Stavenger 209-211 2,150,917 3/1939 Foulke 209-172 2,649,963 8/1953 Fontein 209-211 2,717,695 9/1955 Martin 209-211 2,816,490 12/1957 Boad way 209-211 2,829,771 4/ 1958 Dahlstrom 209-211 2,982,409 5/ 1961 Boadway 209-211 FOREIGN PATENTS 893,485 4/ 1962 Great Britain.

FRANK W. LUTTER, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING MATERIALS OF DIFFERENT SPECIFIC GRAVITIES, COMPRISING A SEPARATING CHAMBER HAVING A TRUNCATED CONICAL SHAPE WITH THE WIDER END DOWNWARDLY, A FEED PIPE OPENING TANGENTIALLY INTO THE LOWER END OF SAID SEPARATING CHAMBER, A CYLINDRICAL TUBULAR SECTION EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE UPPER END OF THE CONICAL SEPARATING CHAMBER AND HAVING AN EXHAUST OUTLET OPENING THEREIN FOR DISCHARGING HEAVIER MATERIALS, AN INVERTED CONE IN THE UPPER END OF SAID CONICAL SEPARATING CHAMBER WITH THE CONE SPACED FROM THE WALL OF THE SEPARATING CHAMBER TO LEAVE AN ANNULAR PASSAGE BETWEEN THE CONE AND THE SEPARATING CHAMBER, THE UPPER END OF THE CONE HAVING A HOLLOW TUBE THEREON EXTENDING THROUGH THE TOP OF THE CYLINDRICAL TUBULAR SECTION AND BEING OPEN TO THE ATMOSPHERE THROUGH THE TOP OF THE CHAMBER, A PARTITION CLOSING THE BOTTOM OF SAID SEPARATING CHAMBER AND A TUBE EXTENDING THROUGH THE CENTER OF SAID PARTITION AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY INTO THE SEPARATING CHAMBER TO A LEVEL ABOVE THE LEVEL OF SAID FEED PIPE FOR DISCHARGING LIGHTER MATERIALS, AND A HEAVY MEDIUM TANK AND A MATERIAL HOPPER CONNECTED TO SAID FEED PIPE AND BEING POSITIONED AT A LEVEL ABOVE THE LEVEL OF THE TOP OF THE SEPARATING CHAMBER FOR FEEDING A MIXTURE OF HEAVY MEDIUM AND MATERIAL TO THE CHAMBER. 